Tonight was a mega-painful watch. I don’t know why I do it, but sometimes I’m a glutton for getting angry at the telly. I saw a few tweets from maydayblues which went a bit like this: Continue reading ‘Panorama – embedded with the IDF…’
New Website: FreeOurFriends.eu
It is almost a year since Iran detained my friends Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd (and their friend Josh).
It demonstrates just how empty the Iranian government’s claim to defend Palestinian rights really is.
Shane and Sarah – who were living in Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp at the time – have done more for Palestinians and against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that pretty much every Arab and Iranian I know.
Continue reading ‘Why is Iran holding Pro-Palestinian activists?’
Take two of the nastiest things around and you’re bound to get grim results. Nationalism and oil make for an unhappy world.
Continue reading ‘Oil and nationalism’
Private Eye shows there’s one rule for politicians and another for the rest of us.
Refers to David Laws who resigned from government after fiddling expenses …
This blog has been dormant for a while – partly because I’ve been working flat out on Give Your Vote.
A few years back on this blog I floated the idea of Americans ‘giving their votes’ to Iraqis so that they could have a say in the decisions that affect them.
Continue reading ‘Give Your Goat Vote!’
It happened nearly 65 years ago, in November 1945. After the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in June and the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in August.
Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin, future Prime Minister Anthony Eden and Liberal leader Clement Davies all talk in Parliament about the need to rethink nationalism and introduce a democratic world assembly.
Labour, Conservative and Liberal leaders criticising everything from the UN Security Council veto to “the barriers that divide us”.
This the language of today’s anti-G8 protesters. Whereas 60 years ago it was the voice of our elected politicians.
Do we have to wait for another world war before we find that language in the mainstream again? Continue reading ‘Britain’s Radical Moment’
While the UK news is full of stories about John Bercow and his role as Speaker of the House of Commons, spare a thought for his opposite number in the Palestinian parliament: Aziz Duwek (pic above).
Duwek was released today after nearly three years in Israeli prison. He was seized along with 40 others six months after Hamas won the 2006 legislative elections in the Palestinian Authority.
Duwek is lucky today, but what of the other Palestinian MPs that are part of the 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons?
Highly Improbable Numbers
The numbers. Official figures claim Ahmadinejad won 63% of the vote or 24.5M ballots cast. An extra 7M people are supposed to have voted for him since the second round of the last election when there was only one other candidate, Rafsanjani, another conservative.
Continue reading ‘How do we know the Iranian elections were rigged?’
Some pictures from my past few days with Josh (and his Christian Peacemaker Team buddies) in the South Hebron Hills. All the pictures you see are taken on the Palestinian side of the so-called ‘Green Line’.
Have a look at this UN map (2 Megs) to see the area (south of Hebron). The map also gives a good idea of the current restrictions and closures in the West Bank.
The crossing from Jerusalem into the West Bank (towards Bethlehem). You have to go through two rotating gates, put your bags through an unmanned x-ray machine, scan your hand, and show your documents through the bombproof glass to the Israeli soldiers on duty. The colourful poster on the wall is from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, and it says: “Peace be with you”.
Continue reading ‘Heart of Darkness’
